


Shifters

by LippiLions19



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 10:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3973873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LippiLions19/pseuds/LippiLions19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wrote this a long time ago.<br/>Not beta read</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shifters

I woke up this morning in the bathtub as a miniature dolphin. This happens occasionally. I was probably dreaming about the ocean and filled the bath tub to sleep in. So anyways, I shifted back to human and stepped out of the tub. I grabbed the towel I keep beside the tub for instances like these and dried off. The clothes I fell asleep in are sitting mushily at the bottom of the tub so I grabbed them and rung them out, hanging them over the edge of the tub after its emptied. I tossed the towel in the hamper hanging from the back of my door and walk naked into my rooms. 

The first room I walked into is my bedroom and has a very sharp color scheme. The floor is black wood, the walls white with a few abstract black splashes over them and the ceiling is white with black flowing fabric hanging from it like humungous black moth’s wings. There are a few beds around the room. The human bed is right smack dab in the center of the room in the middle of the biggest black splash. There is a large, like 5x5, dog bed in the corner to the left of the human bed, and to the right of the human bed is a structure painted white on the outside and pitch black on the inside that looks like a cave with a flattish place on top for lounging; this is my favorite place to sleep when I am in cat or bear form. The inside of the cave is lightly padded and just right for sleeping there are a few perches and nests scattered around the room and some hot rocks scattered in the corner. To the left of the door to the bathroom is the door to my closet where I keep most of my human clothes and some fancy neckties for when I’m shifted into something with a sizeable neck. I think I even have some glitter that can be spread on my feathers when I have other shifters over.

I walk over to the dresser and hangers I keep my human clothes in and pick some light flowing pants and a tight blouse to wear. I grab a bra and some panties at random from a drawer and slip into them, pulling my chosen clothes over them. I always buy at least three copies of the same clothes just incase I have to shift quickly and the ones I am wearing get destroyed. I brush out my long black hair and tie it up in a loose high pony and brush some mascara over my lashes.

I have to walk through the door between my cave and human bed to get to my sitting rooms; which have an aquamarine, gold and lapis lazuli color theme. The floors are lapis carpet and the walls the aquamarine with gold gilt trimmings. The couches are mostly those two blues with gold throw pillows and a warm white fleece blanket draped over the back of my favorite armchair. There are a few meaty bones and a some feathers scattered around the room, mostly kicked into corners. The final door in this room is the one that leads to the hallway that connects my rooms to the rest of my manor.

Greyhaven is what most people call this old house. I guess they would be kind of correct. I inherited the manor from my parents when they were killed by some humans during their hunt. I was sixteen and the only living pup of Brenda and Dave Grey; lets just say I had to grow up fast. Along with the property, I inherited the position of alpha shifter of The Northern Aligonia pack. My territory ranges from the very top of the Algean continent to most of the way to the southern border. There are a few smaller territories in the southern part of the continent though I have recently formed a treaty with two of the largest of the other packs, which will be solidified by the bonding of my Second’s two oldest daughters to the two oldest male sons of the other packs leaders. 

This house is now a haven for other supernaturals. Right now there are three other shifters, two of the fae, three or four elemental spirits, and one vamp. My manor caters fully to every species needs; we even provide the vamps with feeders. Feeders are humans who have wandered unknowingly into our world through the spells cast by the fae. If we were to send them back to their world they would never stop trying to find this place again. They would try forever, not stopping for food or rest, without ever succeeding because only those with magical blood can come back to this world after they leave. I’m not sure why that is but it’s always been like that.

The hallway outside my rooms joins up with the main house in one of the old servants passages. I fitted them for the jinxed stones that the fae can make to cast a more steady and safer light in the tight halls. There is, of course, a main door to my rooms but it is on the ground floor and I didn’t want to use the spiral staircase that connects my blue room to the stables downstairs. Occasionally we will have unicorns or hellhounds stay with us and they sleep there. I paid handsomely for a jinx that would keep the smell of the creatures out of the main house. The passages that my hallway opens into leads to a small door at the back of the large pantry in the manors kitchen. I walked out of the pantry and grabbed an apple-like-fruit from the extensive counter ringing the kitchen. There were several cooks working in the kitchen preparing meals for the other inhabitants of the manor. I saw some beautiful fruit plates for the fae and flowers and nectar for the spirits. The vamps would have to get their blood from the feeder room in the basement. The shifters, when they woke up would have to call down their requests. Shifters didn’t have one set diet because we didn’t have one set form. Most shifters have one preferred form and it is not unusual for there to be animals roaming around the halls. Since most animals can’t speak to one another the shifters have developed a kind of mind speaking. It works for all shifters and the wolves and horses that come across the borders from the human world. Wolves and horses seem to be the only animals from the human world that can freely move through the borders.

“Hey Sarah, where are the wolves? Is Fell with them?” I asked my housekeeper.

“He is and they should be in the run in the back. Can you make sure that Shadow isn’t tormenting the pups. Thanks love.” Sarah replied.

“Didn’t even give me a chance to say I would, did she.” I thought to myself. I walked out of the manor through the kitchen door and down the back walk towards the wolves run. The run was about a mile away from the back gardens and I decided to run to it. Just as I crested the last hill I saw Shadow stalking Rose’s smallest pup, Whisper. Rose was barking and snarling but not attacking or advancing on Shadow for fear of leaving the other three pups unprotected. I jumped high into the air shifted into a giant black wolf, my favorite form, and sprinted to go save Whisper. Shifting is strange, basically it is every single bone and tissue fiber ripping apart and reforming in less then one thousandth of a second. The first shift is the most painful experience a young shifter will go through. It can take a full ten minutes for the first shift to finish and some of the weaker ones get stuck half way through and the parent has to either calm down the pup or render it unconscious so it can finish the shift. It gets easier as we get older and we learn to deal with the pain. I landed running and jumped the high fence and landed just behind Shadow. Then jumped onto his back and hauled him down by the scruff of his neck and pinned him to the ground.

Do not stalk the pups, Shadow!

Why not alpha? They squeak when you nip them. It’s funny.

It is not nice to stalk and to nip them is to invite me to bite you. 

I followed through with my threat and bit him sharply on his neck whish had been exposed when I had pinned him. He whimpered and rolled farther onto his back licking my face under my chin in a show of submission. 

I’m sorry alpha. I wont do it again.

You haven’t bit Fell have you? Tell me the truth!

Yes alpha. But only once and he bit me back.

You are to leave this house and never come back. You are old enough to be on your own and you have insulted me on a personal level and if you are seen on this packland ever again you will be killed on sight. Now, leave.

Rose was slowly inching towards us with her head down and tail between her legs.

Go get your pup Rose.

Thank you alpha.

Rose barked at Whisper to get her to walk over to her. Whisper was still young enough to be a little unsteady on her feet and she tripped a little on her way over to her mom. Rose licked Whisper on her face and picked her up by her scruff to bring her over to the bundle of sleeping fur. Only three of the pups were her own, the three smallest ones. The biggest was a little older and I had found him on one of my hunts. I was hunting in northern Russia when I caught a strange scent on the breeze. It was shifter almost overpowered by baby and death. He was in a small den under a bush covered over by snow. I had had to dig him out. He was so small then, not even as long as my nose, his mother had left him as soon as he was born and hadn’t even bothered to lick him so his fur stood up. I had had to stay in the human world with him until he had been strong enough to walk back to the spelled cave that ejects closest to my home. It had taken about two weeks of me feeding him little drops of my blood, which has many healing properties, mixed with water. He grew big and strong, the way a baby shifter should, relatively quickly seeing as though he was two steps from death when I found him.

When we made it back to the manor Rose, who had arrived about a week before I left with her oldest son and almost popping, had dropped her litter of three so I left my pup with her for the days but he still slept in my room.

When Rose dropped Whisper onto the pile my pup, which I had named Fell, woke up and bounded over to me. It was hilarious to see the great size difference between Fell and myself, as I had approximately fifty percent more mass then a normal wolf and Fell, though large for a wolf pup due to being a shifter, still barely came up to my knee. I bent down to sniff at his head and gently licked his face. I lay down on the ground beside him and he promptly fell asleep. Shadow slinked off into the trees that started popping up in the run hopefully never to return and Rose lay daintily down beside her pile. Fell started whining for food and instead of having Rose stand up to feed him I simply ripped a slit into the pad of my paw where a scar had formed from feeding him and prodded it a bit to get the blood flowing a bit more and placed it in front of his nose. His adorable little pink tongue darted out and gently licked at the cut. It was healed in a few minutes though there was another layer of scar tissue. Fell sighed contently and settled back down. I started grooming him and taking care of him as all mothers, shifter or other wise, would there own pups. 

After a while of laying and talking with Rose about the antics of the little ones I picked myself up off the ground and started walking back towards the manor. Fell started after me and I let him come along. He had energy enough to make it all the way to the house. 

“Hello Miss. Tala, little Fell. How is he today?” Sarah asked handing me a short dress. I shifted back to human and slipped into the dress.

“He is fine, thank you for the dress.” I bent to pick up Fell and he jumped into my arms then proceeded to lick me once on the chin. I laughed and brought him into the cold storage room where we keep the meat and cheese and stuff. I went to a box that holds raw boar steaks and took out a small one for Fell to eat. He needs to learn to eat real food, not just milk and blood. I took the pup and the meat up to my room and into the cave. I sat on the padding in the middle and slowly fed Fell small strips until he was full. There was still a sizeable chunk so I just ate it. The raw meat was what I would eat if I were in one of my predator forms. So, no big.

I left Fell sleeping in the cave and turned on the camera that I used to track my movements in the night and walked down to the stables. I pricked my finger and left a few drops at all the doors I passed through so Fell would know where I was. When my horse Perry stays in the stables I clean out her stall and brushed her down every day she is in this world. Occasionally she will go back to the human world with me to get some plants and berries and other things that don’t grow here.

Hello Tala, this is a fine day for a ride or a run.

Yes it is, isn’t it. Perhaps we shall go for a run today. That would be fun. Are you comfortable here? Do you need anything? I could get you more bedding.

I asked worriedly, rubbing down her extended belly. 

How is your little Pup today?

He is great. Maybe I’ll bring him to see you.

I would like that goodbye Tala.

Goodbye Perry.

There are three stable hands that live at the manor to take care of the animals that my guests bring with them. Right now there seems to be two unicorns and a few other deer like animals that the Fae and spirits bring with them. One of the unicorn does’ has a little foal with her. The baby is about a month old and her little horn is just popping through her hair. She is a soft cream color and still very tiny. The mother looks at me carefully and nods her small head at me. I reach down to the little beastie and softly stroke her little ears. The mother softly touches the tip of her horn to the centre of my forehead. I have to be very careful not to move as the ivory spine could easily tear through my skin. The mother lowers her head and goes back to minding her baby. I stand and back away from the pair and turn to walk out of the stables. 

The spiral staircase is the fastest way back into the house and if I go that way I can check on Fell. As I ascend the stairs I can here some thrashing from my rooms and can smell another shifter in the room. I run up to my rooms, stripping off my clothes as I go. I quickly shift for the third time today and break into my bedroom, emerging as a gigantic black panther. I did not expect to see a strange male sitting on top of my human bed and holding Fell roughly in his lap. The male was obviously a shifter and had pure white hair and bright green eyes. I hissed at him and started stalking towards the intruder.

Now Tala, stop this madness. You know me. We met when you were small and your parents still alive. Do you not recognize me little cousin.   
He taunted. I did not, as was obvious from my fierce growl, recognize him.

Momma, help.  
I heard my little pup squeak.

Let go of my baby and then we can talk.  
The man threw Fell into the air and I caught him roughly by the scruff. I heard several pairs of footsteps running towards my rooms as I looked Fell over for any obvious signs of harm. Sarah and three other shifters burst into my rooms through the server’s way and came to a screeching stop when they say me standing protectively over my pup.

I do not know you now get out of my house.  
I growl in annoyance. The other shifter stands up off my bed and quickly exits the room. Sarah and the other shifters follow after him making sure that he did indeed leave as I checked fell over more carefully. Nothing seeming to be the matter with him I puck him up yet again by the scruff and carry him into the den on the corner and curl up around his small form. Soon he is sleeping and I drift off after him.


End file.
